China's Lunar Calendar 2013 03-14

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT March 14.........................................................................................................March 6 RIGHT

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. 

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.

Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left
十

四
五期星

Third Month, Fourteenth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, March 14

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月歲歲
德馬德

Generational Virtue
Generational Horse
Lunar Virtue

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Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子

吉吉凶

酉己丑
凶吉吉
戌午寅
中凶凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.

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Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
安出開
牀財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Positioning Beds

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
四
甲
申
水
鬼
執

Fourteenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Ghost Carriage (23/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)
*A cyclical character in this jianchu pattern occasionally repeats, as it does today.

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜
作移祭
灶徙祀
補理入
捉髮學
除動出
服土行
安上嫁
葬樑娶
口候
月俱劫
忌將煞

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Stove Work
Seizing and Apprehending
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Beds

Monkey Mouth

Miscellaneous Information

 Baleful Plunder
Everything General
Lunar Taboo

Section Seven
(right to left)

Inauspicious Stars 
白 水
White, Water
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
占
爐 門

Divination
Furnace, Gate